BRUCE CUNNINGHAM, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 2012-02-10
No. 2D07-200
ALTENBERND, NORTHCUTT, and CRENSHAW, JJ., Concur.
131 So. 3d 793 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2012) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

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Synopsis

The Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District, struck a motion for clarification as unauthorized due to lack of jurisdiction, but addressed its content to clarify that it had followed a unique procedural practice of independently reviewing all summarily-denied grounds in post-conviction motions without requiring briefing on those grounds, a practice that differed from other Florida appellate courts.


Holding

The court lacked jurisdiction to consider the motion as its term of court had ended in July 2008, but the court addressed the substantive issue to clarify that between December 2000 and October 2010, it followed a policy of independently reviewing all summarily-denied grounds in post-conviction motions without requiring briefing, and Cunningham's attorney had no obligation to brief such issues under that policy.


Headnotes

[1] An appellate court lacks jurisdiction to consider a motion filed after the term of court has ended.

[2] An appellate court may comment on the substance of a motion that it strikes for lack of jurisdiction, particularly when the motion concerns the accuracy of factual assert…

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Key Quotes

“this court independently reviewed each and every issue that had been summarily denied”

Describes the Second District's standard practice from December 2000 to October 2010 of conducting automatic review of summarily-denied grounds without requiring briefing

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Facts & Procedural History

Bruce Cunningham appealed the denial of a post-conviction motion where some grounds were summarily denied in a non-final order and remaining grounds w…

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Opinion of the Court

ORDER STRIKING MOTION FOR CLARIFICATION WITH EXPLANATION

The Appellant, Bruce Cunningham, has filed a “motion for clarification” in this appellate proceeding. This proceeding was an appeal from the denial of a post-conviction motion. We affirmed the circuit court’s postconviction order in March 2008. We denied Mr. Cunningham’s request to recall mandate in June 2008. Our term of court for that period ended in July 2008. Accordingly, this court has no jurisdiction to consider this motion and we must strike this motion as unauthorized.

Although we strike this motion, the content of the motion concerned this court. As a result, we considered its content and have decided that it is appropriate for this court to comment on the issue. In a sense, Mr. Cunningham is asking this court to reverse the ruling of a federal judge in the Middle District of Florida. He claims that the federal court, at the urging of the Florida Department of Corrections, has reached an incorrect ruling on whether Mr. Cunningham exhausted his state court remedies in this court.

We have read the order entered by the federal court on January 27, 2011, in Cunningham v. Secretary, Department of Cor *794 rections, No. 8:08-cv-2213-T-26MAP (M.D.Fla. Jan. 27, 2011). Mr. Cunningham appears to accurately represent that the order denies some of his claims because his attorney in the appeal before this court did not appeal every ground in his postconviction motion. The order concludes that those claims are procedurally barred in federal court.

This court does not review federal orders in this context. We do, however, conclude that we have some responsibility to confirm the accuracy of Mr. Cunningham’s factual position on the issue of procedural default both for his benefit and for the benefit of any prisoner similarly situated. The federal court apparently was not aware that the policy of this court from at least December 2000 to October 2010 was different from the policies in other Florida district courts of appeal. See Corn v. McNeil, No. 3:08cv199/MCR/EMT, 2010 WL5811434, at *16 (N.D.Fla. Nov. 24, 2010); see also Norwood v. State, 39 So.3d 336 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010), withdrawn and superseded, 67 So.3d 270 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011).

Mr. Cunningham’s appeal concerned a postconviction motion where some grounds were summarily denied in a nonfinal order and the remaining grounds were later denied after an evidentiary hearing, which resulted in a final appealable order. Our records confirm that his attorney raised a single issue on appeal. Our records further confirm that, as was our standard procedure from at least December 2000 to October 2010, this court independently reviewed each and every issue that had been summarily denied.

Rule 9.141 provides express procedural rules for the handling of appeals from orders denying postconviction motions when the “motion” is denied without an evidentiary hearing. See Fla. R.App. P. 9.141(b)(2). It also provides rules for the handling of appeals from orders denying postconviction motions “after eviden-tiary hearing.” See Fla. RApp. P. 9.141(b)(3). These rules are written in terms of “motions” and do not expressly discuss what a court should do if some grounds within a motion are summarily denied and others are denied after an evi-dentiary hearing. In the above-described period, this court interpreted these rules to provide relief under rule 9.141(b)(2) for grounds summarily denied and to provide relief under rule 9.141(b)(3) for grounds denied after an evidentiary hearing. The effect of this interpretation was to require briefing under rule 9.141(b)(3)(C) only for grounds that were denied after an eviden-tiary hearing. Although this policy was not well publicized, it was known among the lawyers who handled these appeals. The attorney filing a brief on behalf of Mr. Cunningham in this court undoubtedly knew that she had no obligation to brief issues that had been summarily denied because those issues would automatically receive review under the process described in rule 9.141(b)(2).1

Our standard policy in this regard was discussed in Norwood, 39 So.3d at 337, which relied on an opinion issued in Walton v. State, 35 Fla. L. Weekly D856 (Fla. 2d DCA Apr.16, 2010). These opinions have been cited by Mr. Cunningham in his motion for clarification. However, after these opinions were issued, they were revised on rehearing. As a result, the version of the Walton opinion cited by Mr. Cunningham was never officially published. Instead, this court issued a revised *795opinion. Walton v. State, 58 So.3d 887 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011). The original opinion in Todd Norwood’s ease' was withdrawn and superseded by a much shorter opinion in Norwood v. State, 67 So.3d 270 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011). Unlike the earlier Norwood opinion, the superseding opinion affirmed in whole without discussing this court’s prior practice of considering all issues that had been summarily denied by a circuit court irrespective of the fact that such issues had not been briefed. It is noteworthy that the Department of Corrections filed its response to Mr. Cunningham’s petition in the federal proceeding in 2009. The final order issued by the federal court in January 2011 was released after the original opinion in Norwood was issued and before it was superseded by the newer opinion.

By 2010, this court was aware that its interpretation of rule 9.141 conflicted with the interpretations of the other courts. In September 2010, this court, by a majority vote of its active judges, decided to align its policy with those of the other Florida district courts of appeal. Thus, we no longer determine our procedure based on how a ground in a motion is resolved. If any ground is resolved after an evidentiary hearing, we require the appellant to process the appeal under rule 9.141(b)(3) and not under rule 9.141(b)(2). Thus, this court no longer conducts an independent review in a situation similar to Mr. Cunningham’s, but he is factually correct that we did so in his case and in all similar cases between December 2000 and October 2010. This court affirmed on the merits all summarily denied claims in his postcon-viction proceeding.

ALTENBERND, NORTHCUTT, and CRENSHAW, JJ., Concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Marte D. Ragan v. State, 202 So. 3d 452 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016)
    …PER CURIAM. Dismissed. See Cunningham v. State, 131 So. 3d 793 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012). SILBERMAN, KELLY, and BLACK, JJ., Concur.…
  • …oc. 12-4, Ex. 37.) When at least one postconviction claim is resolved after an evidentiary hearing, an appellant must brief all claims he wishes the appellate court to review, including those claims denied without a hearing. See Cunningham v. State, 131 So. 3d 793, 794 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012) (discussing the application of Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.141(b)(3)). Therefore, because Holloman did not exhaust these claims on collateral appeal, they are now procedurally defaulted. See id; see also Coolen v.…
  • …to brief every claim he wanted the state appellate court to consider. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.141(b)(3)(C) (requiring briefing when at least one claim in a postconviction motion is resolved after an evidentiary hearing); see also Cunningham v. State, 131 So. 3d 793 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012). The State argued that Devers-Division’s cursory allegation of error, without further argument or explanation, resulted in the waiver of these claims. (Doc. 12, Ex. C6, pp. 24-25). See Heath v. State, 3 So. 3d 1017, 1029 n.8 (Fl…

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